Need For Speed Carbon 360 Review (IGN 8.2)

SteveMcQ

SteveMcQ

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IGN Review NFS Carbon (8.2)

For comparison's sake the first 360 effort, Most Wanted, received an 8.0, a game which I thoroughly enjoyed. I haven't had a chance to try the demo on XBLM though. From the brief excerpt of the review I read, there's a big aspect to the game they took out: drag racing.

I actually enjoyed that part of it. In it's place it seems the drift racing from the Underground series has returned.

Ships on Tuesday.
 
[quote name='Richlough']EA's shady Marketplace behavior is going to keep me away from this one .[/QUOTE]

more than likely you'll start with one rim, the rest come in a package that goes for 1000 points on the marketplace.
 
NFS:Carbon is a game I would like to own. If and only if EA doesn't try to rape my wallet through the Marketplace. I haven't enjoyed a NFS game since Hot Pursuit on PSX. Granted I didn't play Most Wanted. I didn't find the racing horrible, maybe I just don't know what is good? Anyway, it isn't greatest racer ever, but it isn't horrid. I think the score is good.
 
I don't know if I agree with saying that drag racing was a big aspect in Most Wanted -- it was, as far as racing modes go, 10% or less of the game. Even so, it wasn't polished at all.
 
I didn't mean to imply that drag racing was a huge part of the game as it wasn't, but drag racing fits so well into the whole tuner scene. It just doesn't make sense to cut it out.

I downloaded the demo today. Tried two races and the drift event and immediately deleted it. Despite the review, this game sucks.

I know this is preference, but I enjoyed the grittier look that NFSMW had. This whole "neon blur" look is just atrocious. Night events are fine, but damn if everything isn't brightly lit and yet washed out at the same time. Seems like they overdid the motion blur effect.

The actual racing seems similar, but the "team aspect" didn't seem to do anything. It had a different feel to it, though and now that I sit here, it sadly reminds me of Street Racing Syndicate.

The drift events flat out suck. I can't begin to explain how utterly craptacular this mode is. The controls are such a departure from the regular racing, but the way it's done makes it such a glaring change. The damn cars feel like they're on ice and the camera doesn't help as it's stuck so stiffly to the cars. My idea of fun certainly does not include swinging my car back and forth around turns as my point-of-view follows a similarly sickening sway. I hated it in Underground and I hate it here.

Now maybe the Canyon racing is tons of fun. But being that drift racing is now a part of the gameplay in order to get to the other stuff, I'm not going to waste my time or money on this one.

This is, unfortunately, Need For Speed Underground 3.
 
Put me in the "thought the demo sucked" crowd. I don't understand what EA is trying to do with this series. Like some have mentioned, I liked the direction they were going with "Most Wanted", but now they've regressed back to the "underground" theme (is this what market research is telling them that people want?).

Anyways, I'll pass on this one...too many other good racing franchises out there for my money. As a former fan of this series, I'm waiting for the day when EA will go back to the exotic car/police chase theme that I used to have fun with, instead of this played out "fast and the furious" crap.
 
judging by the demo I would have gave this game a 6.2/10.

The custumization seemed awsome, but the racing was no fun and seemed fairly bland to me.
 
[quote name='slickkill77']yea but this game compared to most wanted if horrid...most wanted was awesome[/QUOTE]
... how do you know?
 
[quote name='Kendal']Anyone know what is in the Upgrade your copy to limited edition on the XBLM includes?[/quote]
if you mean the 800 pts one, that's probably everything in the CE that you dont get in the regular edition

i got the game...i like it...it's fun :D
 
I was just wondering, is Carbon worth getting at the current prices or would it be better to wait until it's cheap?

Most Wanted was one of my favorite games, but I can't tell if this one is any good or not. The reviews seem fairly positive, though the demo felt extremely weird and unfinished even. Is the final game the same?
 
The game is pretty linear . Typical EA , it's barely updated ala' Madden .

It is however my guilty pleasure , I end up buying it every time .

It's a step back towards Underground , but it also seems to borrow from some other racers [Midnight Club 3's 3 car classes] .

I can't wait for Midnight Club 4 , or whatever they call it .
 
I was initially not interested in this one, but I am interested in the wireless steering wheel, and this title is one of only 2 titles currently forcefeedback compatible. I might just end up getting this and the wheel at CC and use the $40 off $200 on it.
 
[quote name='AlienLX']I was just wondering, is Carbon worth getting at the current prices or would it be better to wait until it's cheap?

Most Wanted was one of my favorite games, but I can't tell if this one is any good or not. The reviews seem fairly positive, though the demo felt extremely weird and unfinished even. Is the final game the same?[/quote]I hated the demo, but ended up getting the game anyway. I've really enjoyed it. I only have the last territory left to do. It's definitely a lot easier than NFSMW, especially the boss races. The difficulty doesn't lie so much in the career mode, but in garnering every single achievement. There's a good spread to the achievements that require multiple play throughs and having only certain cars in your garage. It's pretty daunting, but certainly not impossible given the game's short length.

I didn't see much of a use for the teamwork facet early on, but in the later levels, they come in handy when you're in between cars--the initial boss cars you get and buying/tuning the improved cars you unlock later.

The cop chases don't seem to be as big of a focus in this one than in NFSMW. They're still there, but they're not a selectable race type in the career world map. You'll just run into the cops while driving around.

The drag races are gone, which I really loved, replaced with drift races. That's the part I really hated in the demo. After playing it more and more though, it's actually quite fun and skill-based. The big thing missing from the demo in that mode is the inability to fully tune your car to drift-racing. Once you do, it's pretty damn fun doing a 70,000 point drift combo.

The canyon races are pretty damn exciting as well. It has a certain sense of suspense. First you're pushing your car as much as you can trying to get around the other racer to win the race outright, or staying in front in the second leg and driving a better race to win by points. You can't use nitrous and Speedbreaker either so it's all in the driving.
 
[quote name='SteveMcQ']I hated the demo, but ended up getting the game anyway. I've really enjoyed it. I only have the last territory left to do. It's definitely a lot easier than NFSMW, especially the boss races. The difficulty doesn't lie so much in the career mode, but in garnering every single achievement. There's a good spread to the achievements that require multiple play throughs and having only certain cars in your garage. It's pretty daunting, but certainly not impossible given the game's short length.

I didn't see much of a use for the teamwork facet early on, but in the later levels, they come in handy when you're in between cars--the initial boss cars you get and buying/tuning the improved cars you unlock later.

The cop chases don't seem to be as big of a focus in this one than in NFSMW. They're still there, but they're not a selectable race type in the career world map. You'll just run into the cops while driving around.

The drag races are gone, which I really loved, replaced with drift races. That's the part I really hated in the demo. After playing it more and more though, it's actually quite fun and skill-based. The big thing missing from the demo in that mode is the inability to fully tune your car to drift-racing. Once you do, it's pretty damn fun doing a 70,000 point drift combo.

The canyon races are pretty damn exciting as well. It has a certain sense of suspense. First you're pushing your car as much as you can trying to get around the other racer to win the race outright, or staying in front in the second leg and driving a better race to win by points. You can't use nitrous and Speedbreaker either so it's all in the driving.[/QUOTE]

Thanks for the impressions...makes me feel a little better about picking this up.

What did you think about the multiplayer over xbl?
 
this game is really fun...i got it from sears for 39.99 from the ad misprint...i'm gonna finish the career, then sell it (probably in a few days), and buy it back when it's cheaper

awesome game though...however, i still think midnight club 3: dub remix was better and i wish they made it backwards compatible :( can't wiat for midnight club 4!!!
 
I figured rather than create another thread about this game, Id just tag my thoughts at the end of this one.

I feel that this game is flawed. I played Most wanted and loved it. This, not so much fun.

They should really call it Need for Speed Abbriged Edition.

I made the mistake of downloading all the free cars.

I didnt realize at the time that by playing with the free cars, I would have not a problem winning the first 2/3rds of the races. I literally blew through everything in my free porsche but the boss race at the end in 3 short evenings. I didnt even realize it was free till I went back to check out other cars to buy.

I spent much more time playing most wanted. I liked the city in the last one better. While this one has better tracks for drifting ( beautiful canyons), most wanted had way more character. The story was way more in depth, this one is super superficial. Hell I dont even know what half the crew characters are doing in the game. They are totally plastic, they dont even really add to the story either. I only ever really needed to use the main female crew member. The story centers around a switched bag that you ran off with? It's like EA stretched out a short scene from a movie over an entire game.

This brings up my next major gripe with the game. I sold off all my cars that were worth something in order to get upgrades for my last remaining car, the ford gt. I made the mistake of holding off on the engine. Well guess what, I have to race something like 40 races with a crippled ford GT in order to pay for my 40 grand engine upgrade, just so I can win the boss races at the end. This just sucks and is a huge time drain. I can barely win now. I should have kept the Lancer. I wish there was an option where one could easily get money in the game if you get stuck. If I only could race for more than 500 bucks at a time, that would suffice. Yes I know, my mistake, not EA, but its taken the fun out of the game for me.

Now I will say that I think that the non story mode portion of this title is what is saving this game for me. I have been trying out quite a few of the challenge races, this should keep me busy for some time.

So theres my 2 cents. Anyone else have any thoughts about this one?

I would suggest the previous version of the game over this one if someone asked which one was better.
 
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